


World Ain't Ready Coda One: The First ABC Meeting After Prom

by idiopathicsmile



Series: Keep it Steady [3]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:54:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25714621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idiopathicsmile/pseuds/idiopathicsmile
Summary: The trouble is this: he and Enjolras are soobviousnow.
Relationships: Enjolras/Grantaire (Les Misérables)
Series: Keep it Steady [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1865029
Comments: 30
Kudos: 641





	World Ain't Ready Coda One: The First ABC Meeting After Prom

Right before the first ABC meeting after Prom, Grantaire has a minor brain cyclone, a freakout, whatever. He’s done some tentative Googling since he talked to Mr. Myriel, just in case, y’know, just on the off chance that the way his brain is broken isn’t some terrible unnameable rot from within but instead a real and diagnosable condition experienced by millions of people, with real and workable treatments also experienced by millions of people, and the shitty stunts his mind can pull on him does, well, kinda sound like an anxiety thing.

But it’s easier to believe that at his computer in the dark, checking out sites in between looking up pictures of kittens and puppies for stress relief, the whole time messaging with Enjolras.

It’s a little harder to keep things together alone in Ms. Hucheloup’s classroom as he waits for the other kids to trickle in. 

The trouble is this: he and Enjolras are so _obvious_ now. 

Like, way more obvious than before when they were trying to look obvious, and every gesture of affection was a scripted and choreographed little piece of theater. Grantaire knows (because Eponine won’t shut up about it, any time the three of them hang out) that he and Enjolras have kind of a smiling problem whenever they look at each other. They hold hands without thinking about it. Even now, in the middle of his brain cyclone-slash-mini anxiety spell, Grantaire’s main cheer-up weapon for trying to ease his way out is remembering this stupid pun Enjolras made about going to the art museum.

He was so _proud_ of it, is the thing. Enjolras is a _nerd_ , and Grantaire likes him _so much_ , and when the rest of the ABC gets here, they’re going to take one look at Grantaire’s helpless beaming face and immediately know that something is different, and from there, they’ll be able to deduce that everything between Enjolras and Grantaire before now was a lie, and then, Jesus, then the shit will hit the fan so hard that the fan will never work again, metaphorically speaking, and then--

“Hey, weirdo,” says Jehan at the door. He’s wearing a T-shirt covered in super heroes, except that for each of the guys (and they’re all guys, notes a voice in Grantaire’s head that sounds weirdly like Musichetta’s), Jehan has sewed a little ribbon bow to their head.

“Hey,” says Grantaire. “Nice shirt.” 

“You okay?” Jehan asks, stepping farther into the room and eyeing the chaos where Grantaire had tried to channel his nerves into wrangling the desks back into a circle. He has not been, like, super successful yet.

“Yeah,” says Grantaire. Then, “No. I just, like, I dunno, what if, uh--”

Somehow, Jehan manages to run the translation. “It’ll be fine,” he says.

Grantaire laughs and it sounds, maybe, possibly, a tad unhinged. “We’re so ridiculous together,” he mutters. “People will--”

“Listen,” says Jehan, “kiddo,” which should be illegal for a sophomore to say to a junior but Grantaire barely cares, “You were ridiculous before.”

“It’s different now,” Grantaire insists. 

“Nobody’s mind is gonna jump where you think it will jump,” says Jehan firmly. “I mean, shall we count the mental leaps?”

Slowly, the fact seeps back into Grantaire’s head that maybe, just maybe, “You baldly deceived us about pretending to date for over three months purely for reasons of social justice” won’t be top of mind for any of their friends.

“If anything,” says Jehan, cheerfully untangling a chair from the pile, “they’ll just think you two finally got laid.”

Grantaire is still choking on that when the rest of the group starts to filter in.

Enjolras is last through the door. “Hey,” he says. His unguarded face is so beautiful. 

_‘Oh nooo,’_ wails Grantaire’s self-control.

“Hey,” says Grantaire, already feeling lighter. He can feel his mouth pulling into a smile.

Enjolras grins in response. “Hey,” he says again, “why are you smiling?”

“I don’t know, why are _you_ smiling?” Grantaire manages.

“Oh my GOD,” says Molly, “this again?”

Jehan shoots Grantaire a look that says, “See? See?” Even Batman looks triumphant from beneath his giant hairbow.

“Welcome, everyone,” says Combeferre, advancing to the board. “Great to see you all again. We have a lot of work ahead of us, so let’s try to keep the shenanigans to a minimum today.”

“What about tomfoolery?” asks Bahorel from the back.

“Also right out,” Courfeyrac cuts in. “As are funny business, horseplay, and hinjinks.”

“And capers?” Grantaire asks before he can stop himself.

“Capers are fine,” says Enjolras. “In the sense of a heist. Because what we’re heisting today is our rights, from under the nose of an uncaring institution.”

Courfeyrac mimes applause. Grantaire joins him.

The corner of Enjolras’s mouth tilts towards a smile, then he seems to collect himself. “Alright,” he says, full of purpose and direction in a way that used to make Grantaire think of movie characters. The truth is, Enjolras is not some golden apparition removed from the rest of the world. He’s not a movie hero at all, he’s a living teenage boy who yesterday cracked himself up suggesting that a whale’s favorite paint would be acrylic (a-krill-ic, get it?) and in a way, it’s terrifying because if they’re both just people, it means Grantaire has no excuse not to try to change the world with him. In that same way, it’s giddying. “Let’s begin.”


End file.
